April 10, 2008
•Army-Navy Men's Lacrosse Game Notes
Navy Stats | Army Stats
Game 12: Navy at Army - Star Game
Saturday, April 12 • 12:00 pm • West Point, N.Y. • Michie Stadium
Media Information
Television: ESPNU, Rob Simmelkjaer (play by play), Jack Emmer (analyst)
Radio/Internet:
Listen: 1430 WNAV, 1050 WFED (Pete Medhurst); Sirius Ch. 127
Listen & Watch: Knight Vision on www.goARMYsports.com
Listen: Navy All-Access on www.NavySports.com
Live Stats: Live Stats on www.goARMYsports.com
Game Preview
• Having already locked up at minimum a share of the Patriot League regular season title, the Midshipmen are looking to extend their 13-game winning streak over Army (7-3, 3-1 Patriot League) on Saturday when sixth-ranked Navy (9-2, 5-0 Patriot League) travels to West Point for the annual Star Game ... faceoff is slated for 12:00 pm at Michie Stadium.
• Saturday's contest will be televised live on ESPNU with Vice President, Corporate Projects at ESPN Rob Simmelkjaer (play by play) and former Army lacrosse coach Jack Emmer (analyst) calling the action.
• The Voice of Navy Lacrosse Pete Medhurst will make the call live on 1430 WNAV, as well as 1050 WFED.
• Additionally, fans can log onto www.goARMYsports.com where a pay-per-view video feed is available ... a live stats link will also be provided on the schedule page via Army's web site.
• Navy's defense held No. 3 Maryland scoreless for 41 minutes, while sophomore attack Tim Paul scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner to lead the Mids to a 5-4 upset victory over the Terps ... it was Navy's fifth game of the season decided by one goal.
• Army had its five-game winning streak snapped last Friday by Patriot League foe Bucknell ... the Bison jumped out to a 6-0 halftime lead and never looked back as it claimed a 7-4 win over the Black Knights ... it was Army's first Patriot League loss of the season.
Taking the Field in ...
10 • The Mids are just a win away from turning in a program-record fifth-straight 10-win campaign under head coach Richie Meade.
9 • Navy has held the lead at halftime in 10 of its 11 games this season.
8 • The Midshipmen have scored eight or more goals in 18 consecutive games against Army.
7 • Nick Mirabito (18-19) is one of only seven players in the country who have amassed 18 goals and 18 assists this season.
6 • Nick Mirabito has scored at least one goal in all six contests against Army, five of the six he has turned in multiple goals ... has scored 13 goals in six games.
5 • Navy has held its opponent to five or fewer goals in eight of its 11 games, including each of its five Patriot League contests.
4 • Navy is 4-0 in road games this season.
3 • A win over Army would mark the third time in its five years (2004 (7-0), '07) as a member of the Patriot League that it will have turned in an undefeated record in conference action.
2 • Navy's two losses this season have been overtime decisions to sixth-ranked Cornell and fourth-ranked Georgetown.
1 • Navy is No. 1 in the country in wins over the last five years with 58 ... Duke is second with 56 wins.
The Army-Navy Rivalry
• Not just a rivalry played on the gridiron, the Army-Navy lacrosse tradition dates back more than 80 years, when the Academies played the inaugural game on May 31, 1924, with the Mids prevailing, 5-0, at West Point.
• Army and Navy battled each other from there out on a yearly basis until 1929 when the series was sidelined for four years ... the series resumed in 1933 with an 8-5 Army victory and has not been interrupted since.
• In 2004, Navy joined the Patriot League for lacrosse ... with the new conference affiliation, it guaranteed the two service academies would meet at least once a year, and possibly a second time in the Patriot League Tournament.
• There have been only four years in which the two programs have met twice in a season, including each of the last two seasons ... in 1978, the Mids earned a 16-13 regular-season victory over the Black Knights in Annapolis ... nearly three weeks later, the fourth-ranked Midshipmen defeated No. 5 Army, 16-15, at home in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
• In 1981, 12th-ranked Army upset the No. 6 Mids on their home field, claiming a 9-8 victory ... Navy, however, picked off No. 3 Army at West Point, 16-10, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament a month later.
• The two programs played one another twice in 2005, '06 and '07, as Army and Navy met during the regular season, as well as the championship game of the Patriot League Tournament ... Navy earned wins in all six games, including the April 16, 2005, matchup in which an Army-Navy record crowd of 12,117 piled into Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and cheered the Mids to a 12-9 victory.
• The Midshipmen lead the overall series, 56-26-3, dominating the series as of late by winning 13 in a row ... it is the longest winning streak by either team in the series.
• Additionally, Navy owns a 51-26-3 advantage in Star Games, including 10-straight wins. The Mids have won 13 of the last 15 Star Games.
• The largest margin of victory by either team has been an 11-point spread that has occurred on five different occasions ... the most recent 11-goal win was by Navy in last year's Patriot League Tournament semifinal matchup in Annapolis where the Mids handed the Black Knights a 12-1 loss.
Navy vs. Army - The Series
• Saturday's contest marks the 86th edition of Army vs. Navy on the lacrosse field and the 76th consecutive year the two programs have battled one another ... it's the longest continuous lacrosse series between Navy and another team.
• Navy owns a commanding 55-26-3 series advantage, winning 13-straight contests, including 10 Star Games.
• The last time Army defeated Navy was on April 25, 1997, when the Black Knights edged the Mids, 14-12, in Annapolis.
• Navy has scored eight or more goals in 18-straight games against Army ... in 15 of those contests, the Mids have reached double digits ... during the Mids' current 13-game run, Navy has been held to single digits just twice.
• The MIdshipmen own a 27-13-2 advantage over Army in games played at West Point, including wins in each of the last five meetings.
• Since joining the Patriot League in 2004, Navy has faced Army twice in a season three times ... there have been only five times in the 86-game history (dating back to 1924) that the two programs have battled twice in one season (1978 and 1981 in the NCAA Tournament, 2005, 2006 and 2007 in the Patriot League Tournament).
Last Time ... Patriot League Tournament
• Tenth-ranked Navy dominated Army from the opening face-off, as the Midshipmen defeated the fourth-seeded Black Knights, 12-1, in the first of two Patriot League Tournament semifinal games in Annapolis.
• The 11-goal victory ties the series record for largest margin of victory which it has accomplished five times in the 85-game history.
• The one-goal output by Army marks the fewest goals it has scored against Navy since 1989 when the Mids defeated the Black Knights, 12-1.
• Eight different players put goals on the scoreboard for the Mids, including four who each tucked in a pair.
• Seniors Tommy Wallin and Billy Looney, along with Tim Paul and Nick Mirabito each scored two goals and added an assist, while senior Ian Dingman punched in a goal and dealt out a pair of assists.
• Navy scored just 45 seconds into the contest as Wallin fed Paul as he was cutting to the middle of the field, just two yards outside of the crease.
• Wallin poked in his first goal of the game at the 8:41 mark, triggering five goals over the next five minutes by five different players.
• One of the highlights of the opening quarter was when Dingman fed All-Patriot League long stick midfielder Victor Barger for his fourth goal this spring off four shots ... after a lengthy scrum ensued off a face-off, Navy picked up the loose ball with Dingman finding Barger on the doorstep.
• Mirabito scored the last goal of the first quarter and the first marker in the second quarter to push Navy's lead to 7-0 with just over seven minutes to play in the opening half.
• Paul fed Mirabito at the top of the crease when Mirabito was met by an Army defender who sent him airborne. Mirabito, though, stuck the goal.
• Army finally got on the scoreboard with 6:19 to go in the second quarter when middie Kevin LoRusso rippled the back of the net off a shot from nearly 10 yards out.
• Navy then scored back-to-back goals by Looney and Paul to head into the locker room with a 9-1 advantage.
• The Mids went on to score three in the final quarter, including the first-collegiate goal by sophomore Sean Standen.
• Navy's defense, led by All-Patriot League players Jordan DiNola, Andrew Dow and Brendan Teague, held Army scoreless in the second half.
• The Mids more than doubled-up Army's shot production as they scored 12 goals on 33 shots against Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year Adam Fullerton, while the Black Knights put up just one goal on 14 shots.
Last Time ... Regular Season
• Seniors Tommy Wallin, Ian Dingman and Billy Looney scored goals in the final nine minutes to lead No. 8 Navy to a 12-9 victory over arch rival Army in front of 11,370 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
• Seven different players scored goals, while another two chipped in assists as Navy concluded the Patriot League portion of its schedule undefeated.
• It looked as thought it would be a blowout early on as the Mids opened up a 3-0 lead seven minutes into the game.
• Army briefly stopped Navy's momentum at the 6:20 mark when sophomore Brooks Korvin fired off a shot from seven yards out.
• Navy took a 6-2 lead when Wallin found midfielder William Wallace cutting to the middle with just 32 seconds remaining in the half.
• On the ensuing face-off, the Mids failed to get a specialist out in a reasonable amount of time and Army was awarded possession.
• The Black Knights wasted little time in setting up, as rookie Brandon Butler found Jason Peyer who tucked in his first-collegiate goal against the Mids with just five ticks left in the opening half.
• Navy scored back-to-back goals just 29 seconds apart in the first three minutes of the second half to open up a five-goal lead, its largest of the game.
• Army, though, went on a five-goal run to knot the score at the end of the third quarter.
• After a goal by Justin Bokmeyer at the 12:17 mark, the Black Knights scored three-straight goals in unique fashion.
• Wigdzinski fired off a shot that was initially saved by Navy keeper Colin Finnegan, but the ball popped up and Finnegan lost site of it as it fell to the ground and literally rolled across the line.
• Five minutes later, Ryan Chase sent a shot that again was initially saved by Finnegan, but Peyer snatched it out of the air and poked it in the open net.
• At the 3:43 mark, Korvin got off a slow bouncing shot as he was falling to the ground that somehow found its way into the goal.
• Army knotted the game at eight-all when second-year middie Alex Rhoads punched in a shot from 10 yards out.
• Navy regained the lead, when Mikelis Visgauss won the draw to start the fourth and fed senior Victor Barger who raced to the left side of the field and found a gap.
• Army tied the game at 9-9 (10:43) when Bokmeyer threaded a pass from the left side of the field that went right through a pack of players and LoRusso dunked it in as he sat on the crease.
• Wallin gave the Mids the lead for good with 8:31 to go as he fought off a triple-team that sent him to the ground as he release a shot from five yards out.
Upon Further Review
• The following are a few highlights/notes from last Friday's Navy-Maryland game.
• The 5-4 decision secured Navy's first win over an opponent ranked among the top three since beating the top-ranked Terps in 2004, 9-6.
• The 5-4 Navy win marked the Mids' fifth one-goal game of the season, however the first one-goal contest that was not decided in extra minutes.
• Navy held Maryland scoreless for the first 41 minutes of the contest ... it was the Terps' first scoreless have since 2005 when Virginia defeated them, 10-2.
• The four-goal output by the Terps was also their lowest since that same Virginia loss in '05.
• Navy extended its winning streak to 21 in a row when holding its opponent to under seven or fewer goals.
• Maryland, on the other hand, held the Mids without a goal in the second half, marking Navy's first scoreless half since 1999 when Johns Hopkins dropped the Mids, 11-1.
• Senior attack Nick Mirabito had his 15-game point scoring streak snapped ... for just the second time in his 57-game career, he was held without a goal or an assist ... ironically, it was Maryland who snapped his 40-game streak just a year ago ... additionally, his 14-game streak with an assist was also stopped.
• Sophomore attack Tim Paul scored a pair of goals in the opening half, including his second game-winning goal of the season and third of his career ... he punched in the game-winner against Bucknell earlier this season with 1:20 remaining in overtime.
Patriot League Success
• Since joining the Patriot League in 2004, Navy is 36-2 (.947) against opponents from the league, including an 8-0 mark in the Patriot League Tournament ... the Mids lost regular-season contests to Bucknell in '05 and Colgate in '06, both games were on the road.
• Navy has won 18 consecutive games against Patriot League teams ... its last loss was a 6-3 decision against Colgate on March 18, 2006, in Hamilton, N.Y.
• Navy owns a 14-game Patriot League regular-season winning streak ... it's the longest winning streak in conference play in the country ... ironically, Cornell and Georgetown, who both beat the Mids in overtime this season, are second with 13 wins in the Ivy and ECAC leagues, respectively.
• The Mids own a 19-0 record at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium against Patriot League competition since joining the conference ... the Mids are 13-0 during the regular season and 6-0 in the conference tournament.
• The Mids have produced undefeated marks in conference action twice, 7-0 in 2004 and 6-0 in '07.
• Navy has won at least a share of the Patriot League regular-season title in each of its five years as a member of the league, including this year ... additionally, the Mids have claimed the league's tournament crown four times with this year's tournament to be decided on April 25, 27 at a site to be determined.
• 24 different Mids have garnered All-Patriot League recognition, while 13 of the 24 have earned honors multiple times.
• Richie Meade was named the 2004 Patriot League Coach of the Year after leading the Mids to a flawless 7-0 mark in league competition ... he received the award a second time after guiding Navy to a 6-0 record last spring.
